Unlucky Unit?

David Gassko answers my question from four weeks ago.

Doesn’t matter to me. I still think Johnson is a risk for 2007 and would be addition by subtraction for the clubhouse.

December 28, 2006 | Filed Under Trap Door Items

Comments

16 Responses to “Unlucky Unit?”

Raf on December 28th, 2006 4:12 pm

Looks like the good ship Mariner (USS Mariner) picked up on this as well. I think a sub 4 ERA is asking a bit much, but stranger things have happened. According to the article you posted, it may be reasonable to expect that Wang and Johnson may cancel each other out

Yeah, he’s a risk next year because of age, but you can say that about a good number of Yankee pitchers under contract next year.

As for the clubhouse issue, I’m not going to put too much stock in it.

Jeez, with this staff, it feels like 2005 all over again.
Chewbacca on December 28th, 2006 5:38 pm

Like I said, we have to contend with umps, bad luck (on balls hit in play, etc.), and bad coaching. We’ve gotta hope that Wang gets as lucky next year for us to even have a chance.

Take a look at ESPN’s headline: We heard all about the Rangers, Mets, Yanks and M’s — but in the end, Barry Zito just leapt over the Bay……Hmmm, I didn’t hear anything about the Yankees being interested in Zito. I don’t even think we made him an offer. But, there’s ESPN’s lack of journalistic integrity trying to make us look like fools.
Raf on December 28th, 2006 6:37 pm

Hmmm, I didn’t hear anything about the Yankees being interested in Zito.
===========
Yanks begin pursuit of Zito
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/sports/16332906.htm

Yankees may pursue Zito
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/16326136.htm

NY Yankees Hoping To Replace Randy Johnson With Barry Zito
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21256299.shtml

And this quote from this article
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/jon_heyman/12/26/yankee.ingenuity/
“After ignoring Zito for weeks, the Yankees suddenly are thinking about the advantages of youth and durability, two of Zito’s strengths. Perhaps another new glance at Andy Pettitte’s MRI scared them straight.”
B(rent) on December 28th, 2006 8:00 pm

Sun Herald: “According to a baseball official familiar with the Yankees’ thinking, if the Yanks are able to complete a trade involving Johnson - they have talked to the Diamondbacks and Padres, among others - they will investigate what it would take to sign Zito, the best starter left on the free-agent market.”

^ Familiar with the Yankees? Alright… but with the Yankees’ thinking? Oddest choice of words…

The first two links are the same article… all three links mention NOTHING of Zito actually being actively pursued by the Yankees…
Chewbacca on December 28th, 2006 8:16 pm

That just shows what kind of loser you really are Raf. You try to dispute anything I say, and most of the time, you do so with little or no success. The Yankees never actively pursued Zito, never made him an offer, and you are taking the word of hmmmmm… sunherald, mercurynews, postchronicle, and Jon Heyman.

Boy, I guess if Mike Lupica writes an article tomorrow saying that the Yankees offered Zito 7 years 140 million and he shunned us because he didn’t like A-Rod, you’d believe that too. Or maybe you’d believe the sky is red (sox).
Chewbacca on December 28th, 2006 8:37 pm

By the way Raf, do not think by any means that your words initiate my “fits” (as you called it). What angers me is that no other WW reader(or maybe others do) has the brains to realize that you are a Red Sox fan in disguise. If your last comment on the article “Who Is Yanks Whiff Kings Worst Enemy?” did not prove to every WW reader the Bostonian Scumbag that you are, I am not sure if anything will.
Steve Lombardi on December 28th, 2006 8:38 pm

Guys, play nice, or, else, everyone gets sent to their room for a timeout. Thanks.
Raf on December 28th, 2006 10:16 pm

B(rent): The first two articles were taken from articles written by Madden & McCarron of the NY Daily News (they’re credited in the byline). IIRC, I’ll have to look it up, the Yanks displayed interest in signing Zito, but only on their terms (why more teams don’t show that kind of restraint is beyond me).

Chewy: A cursory search around the site will reveal my opinion of what I think about the local media. Hell, the media in general.

Anyway, from the USS Mariner article I alluded to earlier;
“Among AL pitchers in 2006, Randy Johnson ranked 11th in strikeout rate and 18th in Fielding Independant ERA. His 4.32 FIP put him in the same category as guys like Ervin Santana and Vicente Padilla and ahead of Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, and Justin Verlander. His ERA of 5.00 wasn’t nearly as impressive, but if you look at his line, there’s one number that stands out:

205 IP, 2.6 BB/9, 7.5 K/9, 1.2 HR/9, 61.8% LOB%

Nobody in the American League stranded less baserunners than Randy Johnson. His LOB% of 61.8% is off the charts. Joel Pineiro, for all his horribleness, stranded 63.8% of baserunners. You can generally calculate a player’s LOB% fairly well by using his BB, K, and HR rates, which you could call expected left on base rate. Randy Johnson’s xLOB% was 72%, and the difference between his expected strand rate and his actual strand rate was higher than any pitcher in baseball.

You can think this proves some kind of lack of skill if you want, but it’s not - it’s mostly random variation, and I’d gladly put $100 on a bet that Randy Johnson won’t post the lowest LOB% in the American League in 2007.”

Hmmm, this could be the reason RJ hasn’t been unloaded for a bag of baseballs yet. Unit’s not going anywhere unless Cashman gets the deal he wants.
Garcia on December 28th, 2006 10:28 pm

I’d like a team-out, but with…. http://tinyurl.com/yxugz3

Steve, your connected, can you make it happen?
Jeteupthemiddle on December 28th, 2006 10:30 pm

I don’t think the Yankees pursued Barry Zito.

I think those articles are all speculation on the writers’ part.

They simply assumed that moving Randy Johnson was a way to get in on the Zito sweepstakes.

I think that if the Yankees really wanted to be in on the Zito sweepstakes, they never would have signed Pettitte (who also makes $16M for 1 year).

Also, I think there is a huge need for writers and agents and teams and whoever to link the Yankees with any big name free agent or player available via trade.

But no, I don’t think the Yankees actively pursued Zito in anyway, and it is inaccurate for the media to report it as such.
Steve Lombardi on December 28th, 2006 11:25 pm

Damn Garcia - Whistler’s daughter! That’s some time out.
MJ on December 29th, 2006 9:14 am

Chewy, why is Raf a Red Sox fan? Because he disagrees with you and sees things a different way? Or because you say so?

And, seriously, give up the “umps are out to get us” argument. It comes off as silly and paranoid. There’s no gigantic conspiracy by the umps to screw the Yankees over. I’m sure you can point to bad calls, just as any fan can do. We as fans only remember the bad calls that go against us but never the ones that go our way (like when Knoblauch didn’t come within a foot of 2nd base in the 1999 ALCS vs. “Raf’s Red Sox”).
Chewbacca on December 29th, 2006 10:09 am

MJ……….I would think that I was paranoid and silly too IF the umpires did not pick and choose the most opportune spots to cheat us during *each and every* game. Unlike most, I can remember the beneficial calls that we have gotten as well as the bad ones. But, the number of bad ones game in and game out take precedence over the few good ones we receive. Also, I might believe it was silly BUT FOR the same thing happens to every one of my NY teams.

I bet when other people on other sites complain that the “commissioner’s office helps the Yankees win,” their comments are not called silly. I’ve read that many times before and most recently, on WW. In actuality, that is the most ridiculous thing ever. Selig hates George and is such good friends with John Henry, he had to get his tongue surgically removed from being entrenched up Henry’s A**.

As for “Raf the Red Sox,” it’s not that he disagrees with me. He goes out of his way to COMPLETELY DISMISS any notion that we MAY POSSIBLY get cheated. What other person might do that???? A RED SOX FAN
AND THE CLINCHER, he shows no sympathy towards the Yankees. When you are a fan of a team, you generally feel bad when your team loses. WHAT OTHER PERSON has no sympathy towards the Yankees, even in the worst case scenario of life and death??? A RED SOX FAN

In my case, not only do I feel bad for the name “Yankees” and Steinbrenner, I feel bad for the individual players on each of my teams, because most of the time, it’s not even their fault (luck/umps/coaching). What can you do when the umps refuse to call a game fairly and your coaches are too classy to do anything about it (other than ISIAH), or your coach/manager goes out of his way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and the luck refuses anymore (2001-2006) to bother to take a turn our way.
Raf on December 29th, 2006 11:09 am

ummmm, yeah…

Anyhoo, Yankee baseball (baseball in general, actually) is a pleasant diversion. A way to pass the time during the seasons. I look at things from a rational perspective. When things don’t add up (and they often don’t), I comment on it. A quick search around the site will reveal that. My postings on netshrine and bronx banter, and on occasion USS Mariner reflect that as well.

And as a man, I have little patience or tolerance for whiners and whining. If that’s your thing, fine. To each their own. But the way I was raised is that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but whatever the outcome, you accept it with dignity. You don’t point fingers and make excuses. But that’s just me.

I’ll take that timeout with Miss Abigail now, Steve
Nick from Washington Heights on December 29th, 2006 12:56 pm

umm..based on what I’ve read on this site, Raf’s a very good Yanks fan. That’s my controversial opinion of the day.
Raf on December 29th, 2006 8:41 pm

Back on topic, I’m looking forward to Unit pitching in 2007 (be it here or elsewhere). Sorta reminds me of the Chacon discussion we were having here last year.